Albino Alligator

Any hostage drama can't help but get compared to 'Dog Day Afternoon' and will therefore be found lacking, but 'Albino Alligator', while not without a few flaws, does a credible job. Kevin Spacey shows some promise as a director, but the script sometimes let's him down. Even so it's pretty entertaining, and the best thing about it is the outstanding cast. You might think Spacey would call upon his Usual Suspects buddies but instead we have Matt Dillon, Gary Sinise and William Fichtner as criminals on the run, Faye Dunaway, M. Emmett Walsh, Skeet Ulrich, John Spencer and Viggo Mortensen as the occupants of an after hours bar they hold hostage, and Joe Mantegna as the cop on the scene. All the actors performances are good, but I especially enjoyed Fichtner's redneck sociopath and Mortensen's mysterious French Canadian who may not be the average joe he appears to be. Both actors have been favourites of mine for some time. 'Albino Alligator' is no masterpiece, but if you want to see some good actors do their thing I suggest you check it out, you won't be disappointed.

There are movies that are made because the studios know they'll make money. There are the movies that are made because someone believed they would and they held out long enough to get them made. Then there are the "actor's movies," the ones any actor worth his/her salt would love to make themselves. This is Kevin Spacey's "actor's movie." That's not a bad term in the least. The majority of the movie is set inside a New Orleans bar, but the scenery doesn't get tiresome. This is due to the fantastic performances of the cast. I love it when I can watch a movie and forget that the person I'm watching is otherwise known as Gary Sinise, Faye Dunaway, or Viggo Mortenson.

The film is also a classic tale of inhumanity, on how far people need to or will go to save their own skin, on choices. It sounds cliché, but the movie doesn't come across that way in the least. Overall, I recommend the film for a lazy Saturday afternoon, like it was for me.

All the characters in this movie have a bad attitude. I guess it's understandable, because half of them just screwed up a robbery and half of them are being held hostage by the screw-ups.

Sinise, Dillon and Fitchner play the wannabe thieves, who try to escape the consequences by barricading themselves in a basement bar. The problem is, there are a ton of cops outside the front door and no other exits out of the bar. Also a problem are the mouthy people in the bar: Dunaway and Walsh serve the drinks with sarcasm and the three lippy patrons are hanging out in there for various reasons of their own.

This movie could have been a little tighter, but overall, not too bad. My spouse was a little bored shortly after they crashed the bar but we decided to keep watching it and now we're glad we did.

As everyone already knows, Kevin Spacey is an extremely good actor who never does a bad job acting. The man is also a great singer (check out the soundtrack to "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil"), so it's not a surprise that he turns out to be multitalented; he's obviously a great director as well. This is the first movie he has ever made and it is such an engrossing and interesting movie. The acting is also superb, Matt Dillon doing such a great job was a surprise to me. The story itself is also interesting, and I liked the fact that this movie was in many ways theatrical. It doesn't work in every movie, but with this premise it worked out fine. Let's hope Spacey directs many more movies!

Kevin Spacey's film debut impressed this viewer when this film debuted in 1996. On second viewing, recently, it still is an interesting film to watch, but it basically left a lot of questions unanswered because of the screen play Christian Forte wrote. One can see what attracted "Albino Alligator" to Mr. Spacey. It's a film where the situation that is created at the beginning of the film allows for intense performances by the first rate cast the director was able to put together. There are holes in the plot, like the enigmatic presence of Guy, the Canadian man one sees sitting at Dino's but whose role in the whole thing is not well explained by the screen play. Matt Dillon, as the man in charge of the bandits makes a good contribution. Faye Dunaway is excellent as Janet, the bar maid that must make tough decisions at the end of the film. William Fichtner is at his most intense playing Law, the loose cannon. Gary Sinise doesn't have much to do. The ensemble cast is good under Mr. Spacey's direction. John Spencer, Skeet Ulrich, M Emmet Walsh, Joe Mantegna, Melinda McGraw and Frankie Faison are effective in their roles. A film to be seen as a curiosity because it marks Kevin Spacey's film debut as a director.